


No Matter What You Say

by Glitteringworlds



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-18 00:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2329406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glitteringworlds/pseuds/Glitteringworlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After reaching Grand Chokmah, Ion is unable to remove the curse slot from Guy, so the group splits, hoping to find a way to take care of it later. But of course things can never be that simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I use they/them pronouns for both Guy and (eventually) Ion in this story, as I headcanon them both as nonbinary!

“So what do we do now?”

Luke floated the question out into a quiet room. Tear looked at the ground. Guy rubbed the back of their neck, then answered.

“You should… probably get to St Binah. I can stay here.”

“Stay here?” Luke looked to the others for support. “That’s ridiculous, right? Just because Ion couldn’t remove the curse slot doesn’t mean that Guy can’t-”

“Luke, they’re a danger to all of us.” Tear caught his arm, her eyes still locked on the ground. “If it was activated again, we might not be lucky enough to find Sync before Guy… before something happens.”

Luke turned from Tear to Jade, who shrugged in agreement, and to Natalia.

“Come on, Luke, you know Tear’s right. Think of it from Guy’s perspective. I mean, they probably wouldn’t be too happy if they ran you through, would they?”

“Anise!” Natalia glared at her, trying to hush the girl.

“What, I’m right, aren’t I?”

“But we can’t just leave, that’s not-”

Ion stood up, holding up their hands to quiet Luke. “It’s the best thing to do, I’m sorry. Until I can properly remove the curse slot, it’s a danger to both you and Guy. The more it is activated, the worse the side-effects can be.”

Luke cooled a bit, stepping back and frowning. “Side-effects?”

“It works by manipulating memories to bypass someone’s inhibitions. It usually doesn’t cause much trouble if removed quickly, but when it is activated repeatedly, it can start to… rewrite someone. In severe cases it can be something of a reset button, causing the person to revert permanently to the state brought on by the curse slot.”

“You mean, Guy might…”

“It’s fine.” Guy spoke up, finally, looking to Ion and nodding gratefully. “Ion told me that as long as it doesn’t get activated again it shouldn’t be a problem. So unless Sync decides to pay me a personal visit I will be safe in Grand Chokmah, as long as Emperor Peony is alright with it.”

Jade’s sharp laugh immediately drew the room’s attention. “Alright with it? A newly discovered Malkuth noble who doesn’t have any political motivation to try and curry favor with him? Yes, I think he will manage to find room in his heart to look after you. I would just worry about him letting you go again.”

“Well, that’s settled then,” Anise cut in, putting her hands on her hips. “Guy will stay here and live a wonderful cushy life while we run around Auldrant trying to stop it from sinking into the mud.” She paused, then added, “Unless, of course, they need someone young and beautiful to keep them company…”

“I’m sure I can manage somehow, Anise,” Guy said, laughing. “But thanks for the offer.”

“Your loss,” Anise sing-songed, sweeping out of the room, closely followed by Ion. The rest trickled out after them, Tear briefly squeezing Luke’s arm before leaving.

“Are you sure you are okay with us leaving?”

Guy shrugged, but their smile had drooped to something less sincere than it had been a few seconds ago. “You’ll be… you will all be safer that way. And St. Binah can’t wait. Besides, I’m sure that Ion will figure out how to take care of it before too long.”

“But…”

Reaching over, Guy softly punched Luke’s arm. “Don’t worry about it, okay? Come on, don’t you have any sense of self-preservation? I just tried to kill you. You should be glad to be rid of me.”

This sparked off Luke’s anger again. “Guy, you know that’s not… I trust you!”

“Yeah, I know you do, you dork. I just mean...” Guy’s face darkened further, and Luke noticed their hands were clenched tightly in their lap. “There’s this dark spot in my memory of what happened in the forest. It’s all kind of a blur, and just… I can just see this one image of you, when I…” Losing the thread, Guy huffed. “Anyway, after I came to, Ion told me what happened, and I was… I was really scared, Luke.” 

They looked away, down, anywhere but at Luke, who was staring intently at them.

“You gave me… you gave me everything back. I never thought I would… after I decided to get revenge, that was it. I thought that I didn’t have room for anything else. But you helped me find myself amidst all that. And the thought that I could have… could have… just because someone reached inside my head and found all that anger I thought I’d gotten rid of.”

“It’s terrifying.”

Guy looked up, surprised to hear Luke, as if they had gotten lost in their own voice.

“When I think back to Akzeriuth, about the fact that I let myself… let Van control me like that.” Luke sat down on the bed across from Guy, and now it was his turn to look down to the floor. “I started to feel like… like I wasn’t real. I was just some… some thing, some weapon. I still sometimes…”

“Luke, come on, you know that-”

“Yeah, I know. And I’m not trying to say I’m not responsible either. I just mean... it was when you decided to come back for me that I started to… to feel real again. So I don’t want to leave and let you think that I’m… scared of you, or something.”

“You should be scared of me!”

Looking back up, Luke grinned. “Well, I’m not.”

Guy couldn’t help but smile, and Luke saw their hands unclench in their lap. They sat in the quiet for a bit. “I’m still not coming with you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Luke sighed. “But you had better believe that we are coming back for you, okay? I wouldn’t be a very good master if I left my servant in enemy territory.”

“You’re just jealous that I get to stay in a fancy house while you go tromping across the country-side.”

Luke looked offended for a half second, then smiled. “Something like that.”

He stood up again, preparing to leave. The others were waiting for him, after all. He stopped himself, however, before closing the door, and turned back to where Guy still sat.

“I really do trust you, you know. And I’m not scared of you either. No matter what you say.”

Guy shook their head at the empty room once Luke left.

“He really doesn’t have any sense of self-preservation, does he?”

\---

“So the one with the runny nose is Saphir, right?” Peony nodded, and Guy pointed to the rappig in his arms. “And that’s Aslan? Because of the eyes.”

“Very good!” Peony replied, as Aslan braced his legs against Peony’s chest and nuzzled at his neck.

“And what about this one?” Guy motioned at the rappig who was trying, and failing, to boost his way onto their lap, caught over Guy’s leg with both his front and hind legs dangling freely in the air. Guy gave the creature a helpful boost, and he settled happily, laying his head on their other leg.

“That’s my cute little Jade! You can recognize him by the spots over his eyes.”

“Spots, huh?” Guy scratched between Jade’s ears and he made an appreciative snuffling noise. “How come… no wait, don’t tell me.” Guy grinned evilly. “Four eyes?”

Peony winked. “Got it in one.”

Guy leaned back, letting the other rappigs approach them in turns. “So you want me to, what, walk them? Play with them?”

“Something like that. They need someone who can look after them, what with how busy I’ve been with this war, and you need a good excuse to move through the palace unquestioned. This takes care of both things. Plus, Jade has told me you are very good at doing as you’re told.”

“Of course he did,” Guy muttered, “But why exactly do you want me to have access to the palace? And aren’t you worried about the curse slot?”

Peony raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a burning desire to kill me that you haven’t mentioned?” He laughed then, and added, “though honestly, even if you did, you’d still probably be more trustworthy than half of the nobles around here. I may be a fairly popular emperor with the people of Malkuth, but I certainly haven’t made many friends amongst the upper crust. Ah well. As to your second question, well, perhaps I just answered it. I need someone I can trust, especially with Jade gone. Consider this a… test run.”

“Test run?”

“Assuming you and your friends can save the world and all that,” Peony said, waving his hand as if that was already a given, “then I’d like to ask you to come live in Grand Chokmah.”

Guy’s eyes widened. “Live in the capital? But I’m not exactly…”

“Exactly what? You’re Malkuth nobility, and you act more like it than most of these self-obsessed money grubbers. Besides, how good will I look if I restore House Gardios to power?” Peony paused, leveling a thoughtful gaze at Guy, searching their face.

“Unless you were planning on returning to Baticul? I assumed that now that people know who you are, you wouldn’t want to return to servitude at the Fabre Manor.”

Guy’s stomach turned, though they couldn’t tell if it was the thought of returning to Duke Fabre’s house that did it, or the thought of not going back at all. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it much.”

The quiet of the room was supplemented only by the background crash of water that seemed to permeate every room of the palace.

Peony moved the rappig from his lap. “Well,” he said standing up, “it’s not as if you have to decide any time soon. But you are certainly more than welcome here.”

Guy gave Jade one last pat and set him aside, standing as well. “Right. Thanks. And I’ll be by tomorrow morning for the rappigs.”

“You had better be! I think my cute little Jade is already attached. In the meantime you should relax. I have a room prepared for you in the East Wing of the castle. It sounds like you’ve had a rough few days, and you’ve got some things to think over.”

Guy left the room feeling as if Peony had found out something about them they hadn’t wanted anyone to know, though they weren’t exactly sure what it was.

\---

Staring out the window of the Tartarus, Luke squinted desperately for any sign of land. Jade had said it would still be a day at best before they made it to Sheridan, but he felt itchy with impatience, and being stuck in the metallic beast wasn’t helping anything. He had spent the past hour pacing up and down the deck, until Anise, who was trying to focus on practicing a new spell, had finally banished him to his room, where he sat gloomily waiting for a sign, any sign, that they had reached their destination. Or were even getting closer.

A knock distracted Luke from his half-hearted vigil, and he turned to see Tear peering through the half-open doorway.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.” Luke kicked the chair across the table from him out for her, a lazy invitation to sit down. Tear rolled her eyes, but took the proffered seat anyway. She looked out the window as well, watching the waves roll by with him.

“You know, I remember when you first saw the ocean, I could barely pull you away from the view.”

Luke sighed. “Yeah, don’t remind me. I would be happy to go my whole life without seeing it again.”

Nudging one of his arms on the table with her elbow, Tear smiled. “Come on, you don’t mean that. You should try waking up a little earlier one of these days. The sunrise looks amazing on the water.”

Luke didn’t respond beyond giving a noncommittal grunt.

“We are going to get there on time, you know.”

That got his attention. “How did you-”

“Oh, come on Luke. Everyone knows that’s what has got you so worked up. You feel responsible for the collapse of St. Binah, and you’re worried we won’t make it to save the rest of the town. Jade has been pushing the Tartarus as hard as it can go. This isn’t only your burden, okay?”

“But I’m the one who caused this all to happen in the first place.”

“Van was the one who caused it to happen. Yes, Akzeriuth was partly your fault, but it wasn’t as if we didn’t all contribute to it. That’s part of why we - why all of us are trying to help. But if you sit around by yourself, you aren’t going to help anyone. Why don’t you come train with us on the deck? Anise and I have been hurling spells at each other. It’s fun.”

“I don’t know any spells. And Guy’s not here to spar with.” Despite his tone, Luke did look a little brighter. But grumpiness clung to him with a fierce desperation.

“Is that what this is all about? Here I was thinking you were worried about St. Binah, but you’re just moping because-”

“I am worried!”

Tear smiled. “And I’m telling you that you don’t have to be. Now, come on. I may not know how to swing a sword around but I’m pretty good with a spear in combat. And having a moving target could be good for me and Anise. Maybe we can even convince Jade to join in, if we tell him you’re our-”

“Okay, I don’t mind being a moving target for you and Anise,” Luke said, shivering in exaggerated fear. “But I draw the line at Jade.” He smiled. “But I wouldn’t mind sparring with you a bit. Thanks.”

They walked towards the deck together, stopping by Tear’s room so she could grab a sturdy spear for practice. Luke leaned against the door frame as she sorted through her things to find one, absentmindedly fiddling with the buttons of his jacket.

“Do you think we could send a letter off to Grand Chokmah from Sheridan?” He asked, as she finally decided on an adequate weapon and turned to leave. “I’d like to let Guy know everything that’s happened.”

Tear looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “You really miss them, don’t you?”

Luke looked as if he was about to try and deny it, but then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I do. They’ve sort of always been around, you know? Even when we shot away into Malkuth, they still found me.”

“And swooped in to save us at the perfect moment, if I recall correctly.”

“Heh, yeah. That’s Guy for you. I guess it’s just weird to know that I can’t count on them right now.” Luke paused. “That makes it sound like… I don’t mean to seem as if I just want them around to protect me. Now something is wrong with them, and I can’t do anything about it. They’ve always been there to help me, and I’m just… sailing away to do other things.”

“You know that’s not what’s happening, and you know Guy doesn’t hold anything against you, right?” Tear’s face spoke her amused annoyance as clearly as she did.

“Yeah, yeah.” Luke waved his hand at her. “But knowing that doesn’t mean that I don’t feel bad anyway. I just hope everything gets sorted out soon.”

Tear patted his back, smiling supportively. “I’m sure it will be. Anyway, maybe if you practice during the trip, you’ll actually stand a chance against them next time you two spar.”


	2. Chapter 2

Dear Guy (or should I call you Gailardia now?)

I am writing you from Sheridan, where we have gone in order to borrow an airship to rescue the residents of St. Binah. I guess I should explain what happened there, shouldn’t I?

(Sorry, I’ve never written a letter before!)

We got to the town and started to evacuate. We got most everyone out when Dist showed up in a big robot. Ugh. (Oh, Jade told me to say that his robots are “as unfashionable as ever.” You’re supposed to “report that directly to Peony.”)

We were able to take care of him fairly easily, but by the time he was gone, part of the city had already fallen beyond our reach! I was a little freaked out, honestly. I thought I was going to have to watch them sink like-

Guy frowned at the rest of the page, which was a series of scratched out words and a large blot of spilled ink. Eventually they just flipped it over. Luke had continued writing on the other side.

Sorry about that. Anyway, apparently there is a thing called a “dividing line” between the Outer Realms and the Qliphoth. St. Binah will continue to sink slowly until it reaches that point, which means we have a little time. So we came here to try and find a way to rescue the rest of the town. I guess they found an ancient flight stone thing from the Dawn Age, so that’s pretty cool. I bet you would like it a lot, but I can’t understand half of what they are saying. 

We had to rescue the stone from a ship that had crashed with someone named Ginji inside. He’s the grandson of the guy who led the project. He’s really nice, and his sister is going to be the one who is going to be flying us. They have neat matching jackets. How cool is that?

Everything has been a bit of a rush, and we are going to be leaving as soon as we can, but I wanted to write you so you could know what we’ve been up to. Ion said that once we take care of this, if we have time, we should stop by Daath to try and find more information about curse slots so we can remove yours. If we have the Albiore (that’s the name of the ship) (well, the Albiore II I guess. The Albiore I was the one Ginji crashed in), hopefully that won’t take long.

Oh, everyone say hi. And Anise said to tell you that she hopes you can join us soon, because she misses your “charming personality and winning smile” (she’s looking over my shoulder as I write this and just told me to add some hearts). “♥♥♥”

I think that’s everything. Things have been happening pretty fast though, so sorry if I left anything out. I guess I can always tell you more about what we’ve been doing once we meet back up.

To be honest, I miss you too.

It looked as if Luke had started to cross that out too, but stopped himself.

Best Wishes,

Luke

Guy smiled as they closed the letter, trying not to let themself linger too long on the last lines. Peony had heard most of what had happened at St. Binah, but it was nice to hear it directly from Luke, and to know they had found a way to help the people still trapped.

A rattling alerted Guy to the presence of the rappig that was standing on their bed and snuffling at a vase on the nearby desk, just in time to prevent the oncoming disaster. They moved the vase and grabbed the rappig, holding it in against their chest as Peony did. It cuddled against them, warm and sleepy.

“You’re… Aslan, right? Trying to cause trouble for me?”

Sitting down on the bed where the rappig had been, Guy put the letter down on the desk. It was hard to pin down exactly what they felt while reading it. According to the date, it had been sent from Sheridan two days ago. Had Luke and the others been able to reach St. Binah in time? It had been slowly sinking for about a week now, but news had been getting continually slower to come and more muddled when it did, as the war continued to mount. Tensions were growing on the plains, and though Guy didn’t know all the details, the few chances they had had to talk to Peony had made it clear that if something didn’t give soon, it would come to blood in a matter of days.

And where was Luke amidst all this?

Guy didn’t notice they had been rubbing at the spot on their arm where the curse slot had been placed until it started to hurt.

Shaking their head, they set Aslan on the floor and laid back on their bed. It felt inevitable that something was going to go wrong. Something was going to happen, and they weren’t going to be there to help, weren’t going to be able to do anything but sit around, useless, like some kind of-

The door opened to a pale-faced Peony. Which was saying something, since it took a lot to shake the usually relaxed emperor from his smile.

“Gailardia. You received a letter from Luke, didn’t you?”

Guy frowned. “Yeah, I just finished reading it? What’s wrong?”

“Did he say what the group was planning to do next?”

“They were… they got a ship to try and rescue the people still stuck in St. Binah. He said after that they might try and stop by Daath, but other than that, I don’t really know. Did something happen? Have you heard from them?”

Peony sagged against the wall, then came to sit next to Guy. “I wish I could answer your questions, but honestly, I’m in desperate need of some answers myself.” He rubbed his temples, slumping forward while Aslan worriedly nudged at his foot.

“The Rugnica Plains are gone.”

A cold dread crept into Guy’s stomach, clawing its way up their throat and pooling in their mouth.

“Gone?”

“No one seems to have a clear story about what happened. I’ve heard that Engeve was evacuated, and Jade was spotted there. Someone else has reported that the Fon Master is back in Daath. And, well, the sight speaks for itself. The entire battlefield is gone.”

“And you don’t know if…”

“No one seems to have a concrete answer as to where Luke and the others are. As best I can tell they were headed towards Chesedonia. They were certainly somewhere on the battlefield before it fell.”

Guy stared down at their hands, still not able to work the words through their head. “You don’t think…”

Peony sighed. “I don’t know. If the battlefield collapsed, if it was like Akzeriuth, then I am accountable for the deaths of tens of thousands of Malkuth citizens. The people of Engeve, the soldiers… Aslan was there as well. However…”

Guy looked up sharply.

“I’m not sure. The disappearance of the plains doesn’t match with the other things we know. St. Binah took a whole week to sink. The only reason Akzeriuth fell so quickly was because the passage ring was destroyed, correct?” Guy nodded a stiff agreement. “So then why would Rugnica have gone so quickly? It doesn’t add up.”

Trying to find words, to find anything to hold on to, Guy clenched and unclenched their hands. Everything felt fuzzy and far away, but they knew they couldn’t let the world dissolve into static. It was hard to focus, but they had to. Peony was trying to figure out what had happened. No one knew for sure what had happened. There was no reason to believe…

To be honest, I miss you too. 

“Gailardia.”

Peony’s voice was gentle. They realized he had placed a hand on their back, and it was only with that realization that they discovered they had been staring off into space for several minutes, unresponsive to Peony’s questioning.

“I’m sorry. I was distracted.” 

Peony smiled softly. Sadly.

“It’s alright. I understand. I’m worried too. But, hell, it wouldn’t be the first time Jade has disappeared off the face of the planet and come back unharmed and laughing at me for being worried. We have to try and stay focused.”

“Right. Right.” Guy paused. “You said that Ion was taken to Daath before the fall, right? Do you think they might know more about what happened?”

“They are certainly our best bet for information. Do you think you’d be able to get an audience though?”

Despite everything, Guy smirked. “Oh, I’m sure I can manage. With Your Majesty’s permission, I’d at least like to try. Could I have-”

Peony waved a hand. “Anything you need is yours.” He stood, then turned to Guy. “Just find them and bring them back alive, okay? And tell Jade I’m tired of him going off and making everyone but me think he’s dead.”

\---

Chesedonia was in shambles, but it was still standing. Luke, crouched next to an upended stall, attempted to sort through the mess and find any unbroken medicine bottles. Natalia was a few stalls down, collecting the few vegetables that weren’t broken, mashed, or otherwise inedible, into a basket. She heaved it onto the table, standing and wiping the sweat from her forehead as the shopkeeper thanked her profusely.

The man who usually ran the stall where Luke was had been put up in a makeshift hospital in the inn, his leg crushed during the fall.

But despite the chaos, things were, mostly, alright. Everything glowed with a soft purple, and some of the younger children were already having some trouble breathing, but Tear had arranged for them to be transported to Yulia City. Jade was meeting with Astor to see if there were any supplies the town needed, while Tear and Anise checked in with the injured and booked the group some rooms at the inn. They would spend the night there, then head for Daath in the morning.

Sitting back on his heels, Luke ran through the events of the past couple of days once again, trying to pin down the unease that had been festering in his gut. Things weren’t good right now, but they weren’t bad either. For the first time in a long time, he felt like they had things somewhat under control. With the Rugnica Plains lowered into the Qliphoth, the war had been effectively halted, which meant that Mohs was as good as stopped, at least in the short term.

The state of the Sephiroth was worrisome, but…

Natalia knelt down next to Luke, carefully helping him to pick through the broken glass. She hadn’t said much since the confrontation with Mohs, but worked with focus. Luke recognized it, the desire to be distracted by the physical, to push at muscles hard enough that they moved of their own accord, that thoughts could be quieted to a dim whisper.

“Are you alright?”

Natalia looked up, cutting her palm as she did, and cursing quietly. Luke brushed his hands on his pants and stood up. “Come on, let’s go have Tear fix that. I don’t think we will find anything else usable in this mess anyway.”

“I can take care of it myself.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to. You’re tired and hot and need a break.” Pulling at her elbow, Luke helped lift Natalia to her feet. She huffed, but didn’t protest, heading towards the inn. Luke trailed after her.

“Natalia, um…” He hurried a bit to catch up. “Listen, I know this probably sounds… well, I just wanted to say that if you need to talk or anything…”

“You’re here for me?”

“Yeah”

“I appreciate the offer, Luke, but I’m not some fragile creature. I know that everyone has been on edge around me, but you needn’t… We cannot get distracted now. I have a duty to my people, and I have no intention to fold to the words of that despicable man. Even if they are true.”

Luke shook his head. “Guy always said you were an unstoppable force.”

Still a few paces behind, he couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like Natalia had smiled a bit at that. Stopping outside of the inn, she turned back to him. “Isn’t that what a princess ought to be?”

Tear and Anise were sitting at the table inside, looking over a map. Tear had divided it into pieces with firm red lines, and made a few marks.

“What’s this?” Luke pulled up a chair, while Natalia moved next to Tear, holding out her injured hand for inspection.

“A map of the Sephiroth,” Anise replied, “as best we can figure. If they really are going out of control, Tear thought we should have an idea of what other areas might be in danger.”

Luke studied the map, tapping at where Shurrey Hill, the Zao Ruins, and Akzeriuth had been marked off. There were also marks at the northern and southern poles, and a few half-hearted question marks squiggled at various other landmarks. Someone had also drawn a smiling stick figure of Ion by Daath, and another one that could only be Guy at Grand Chokmah.

“And the stick figures?”

Anise shrugged. “Well, we are trying to figure out our next stop, right? We need to see Ion to see if they know anything about the Sephiroth, and I figured you might want to see Guy too.”

“How come?”

Raising her eyebrows, Anise gave Luke a look he was fairly she she must have spent her life perfecting, to make it clear how disappointed she was at his not understanding. “Because we literally just disappeared off the face of the planet? Don’t you think they might be worried about you?”

Luke frowned. “I guess I hadn’t thought of that.”

“What hasn’t Luke thought of?” Jade’s voice at the entrance made Luke turn.

“Probably the same thing you haven’t thought of, Colonel. Have you considered sending word to Grand Chokmah yet?”

Jade raised an eyebrow.

“I wasn’t aware that there were an abundance of carrier pigeons that could make the trip back and forth from the Qliphoth and the Outer Lands. If you happen to have a secret stash, however…”

Rolling her eyebrows, Anise leaned back in her chair. “You know what I mean. We should probably let people know that we aren’t all dead, is all. You too, Natalia. I mean, you haven’t even been back to Baticul since our first pleasure cruise through the Qliphoth.”

Tear, who had finished healing Natalia and turned back to the conversation, nodded. “Anise has a good point. If no one knows what happened to the battlefield, their confusion might only make things worse.”

“And what about you, Anise?” Jade sat down with the rest of the group. “Don’t you have anyone you want to get in contact with?”

“Well, we are planning on going straight to Daath anyway,” she replied chipperly, “so I don’t really have to worry about it.”

“Finding out what is going wrong with the Sephiroth is certainly our first priority,” Jade said, rotating the map so it was facing him, “but Anise does have a point. At very least, someone ought to explain where the several thousand soldiers just disappeared to. We have no real way to get word to either Grand Chokmah or Baticul while we are down here, but once we surface, we should see to that as soon as possible.”

“Couldn’t we send Noelle up tonight,” Luke asked, fidgeting, “since we aren’t planning to go to Daath until tomorrow anyway?”

Jade raised an eyebrow. “It may surprise you to know this,” he drawled, “but Noelle does, in fact, require sleep as much as the rest of us.”

“I’m not totally sure you require sleep, Colonel.”

“That’s beside the point, Anise. I’m just trying to explain to Luke here that we cannot be everywhere at once.”

“Let’s stick to our plans for now,” Natalia cut in. “We don’t know what we will learn from Ion in Daath, so we shouldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves.” She nodded curtly to the group, then stalked off towards their rooms. The group watched her go in silence.

“I think she’s worried about how the king might react to her,” Tear offered up, though it was hardly a new idea to the table. Luke sighed, flicking at the corner of the map with his thumb. After a moment longer, Jade excused himself as well, following Natalia in the direction of their rooms, though clearly with his own intentions.

“What a cheery bunch,” Anise muttered. “We just saved two armies and sort of kind of stopped a war, right? Can’t we afford to be a little happy?”

“The Outer Lands are still in danger though,” Luke replied. “And Jade’s right, it’s not like we can do everything at once.”

“Aw, don’t worry Luke,” Anise said, grabbing the red pen Tear had been writing on the map with. “I’m sure we will be able to meet up with Guy soon. See?” She quickly drew a smiling Luke next to the drawing of Guy. “Everyone is happy.”

“That’s not what I… I’m just concerned about the Sephiroth and everything, okay?” Luke could feel himself blushing, and continued to stare sternly at the table, not wanting to look up and see Anise and Tear staring at him. He could practically hear their smiles in the following silence.

“W-whatever. I’m going to my room.” Luke stood up.

“The Colonel’s in there right now you know.”

Throwing up his hands, Luke changed course as quickly as he had started on it. “Fine! I’m going on a walk.”

Anise rested her chin in her hands as she watched Luke leave. “I should ask him to play poker with me sometime. He’s such an easy read.”

“Anise!” Tear was attempting to glare sternly at the girl, but wasn’t hard to see a hint of smile. “That’s not very nice.”

Anise raised her eyebrows. “What? It’s the truth.”

“You shouldn’t take advantage of people like that.”

Anise’s grin broadened at the implied agreement with her assertion. “It’s a tough world out there, Tear. A girl’s gotta do what she can to get by.” She winked at her companion. “In fact, I have a deck of cards on me right now, if you’d like…”

Tear had stood up and headed off before she even finished the question.

“Booooo,” Anise said to her back. “None of you are any fun.”


End file.
